The number of Futures events in the UK- Parliamentary Question

Topemp · Strong Club Player

The number of Futures events in the UK- Parliamentary Question

Jaggy1876 · Grand Slam Champion

The number of Futures events in the UK

EddietheEagle · County player

The number of Futures events in the UK- Parliamentary Question

Jaggy1876 · Grand Slam Champion

Has there been any announcement yet about next years plan? Is it not usually around this time we get an indication?

-- Edited by Jaggy1876 on Tuesday 27th of June 2017 05:45:23 PM

indiana · Tennis legend

Thanks Toby for the information.

Spectator · All-time great

Thanks for bringing this to our attention; it will be interesting to read the Hansard. A great initiative - and it should get at least some cross-party support

!

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

I actually had a discussion about this very topic with Leon Smith last year in La Manga, which I have reported on here before. He basically told me that the biggest problem is finding clubs willing to host tournaments. The LTA offered to share the financing 50/50 with clubs and they had ZERO response. Just to get the 6 tournaments we have had in each of the last two years (on the men's side), the LTA had to offer to fully finance, and even then there was very limited response.

I do think that there is some very disjointed thinking at the top level. From what I understand, the LTA have basically said that their role is to increase participation numbers at grass roots level rather then try and support (through multiple tournaments/prize money/funding etc) the young professionals. For me, the two are not mutually exclusive. I genuinely think that carefully structured GB ITF Futures Circuit, if properly marketed, could be the biggest recruiting tool for grass roots tennis. I am thinking along the lines of the Challenger Tour in the USA.

Get a marketing team (and maybe a player or two) in the town the week prior to the tournament, doing the rounds of the schools/local radio etc. to promote the tournament. Give the kids a mini program with details of all the GB players who will be at the tournament - picture/ranking details/age etc - and most importantly a box by each player for autographs. Youngsters love collecting autographs. Then get a website set up so they can follow the progress of their favourite players over the rest of the year.

Entry is free for the kids if accompanied by an adult paying a nominal £2 for example. When the kids are there, give them a free taster session with some of the players acting as coaches. Sign them up there and then for a 3 day course during the subsequent school holidays for those that want to take it further and involve the local club in this course. For those that get the bug, the next step is to get them into the club itself to play on a regularly basis. It's all about progression - taster, holiday camp, regular player.

If the clubs/LTA do this properly, there are other ways to assist with financing etc. Clubs in Portugal for example raised over 3000 euros per tournament by playing "pre-qualifying" tournaments during the previous week at 30 euros per head with the winners getting an MDWC for the tournament itself. Two 64 man draws, one set to 9 with TB at 8-8. Hugely popular and additional match practice for those that were beaten in qualies the week before and have to sit around for a week waiting for another chance.

It really needs a supremo whose sole responsibility is to oversee this whole project. There is so much untapped potential for promoting all levels of tennis in this way.

Anyway, good luck with your efforts on Thursday. If I can pick up BBC Parliament here in Spain, I will look in on Thursday morning.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

It's a good point about the clubs' unwillingness.

And you make some good suggestions about how to make it more appealing.

But there's also the stick.

As said before, European federations that I know don't really 'give the choice'. The club may or may not want to host a tournament. But if the club wants certain things in return, it has to play ball. Clear. Easy. The president I spoke to here said the one holy thing for clubs and members is the allocation of Wimbledon tickets. So make the allocation conditional on running a tournament (or whatever else you want them to do, if not a tournament). Not as a threat. But as a working partnership. A French club that does not have a subsidised (by the clubs' members) école de tennis will not be given grants for its maintenance or a whole heap of other things. It's a 'I'll scrub your back and you scrub mine' approach. And based on monthly meetings (which seem non-existent here) and the idea that the clubs and the federation are part of the same unit. I honestly don't see the problem.

But great question, Toby. And great to know about it.

-- Edited by Coup Droit on Tuesday 27th of June 2017 06:29:13 PM

Etienne · Club Coach

Isn't a primary issue the weather, for futures at least? You can host loads of futures outdoors in sunny countries, which costs dramatically less than it would to host them indoors in the UK. The period in which you can realistically host outdoor tournaments in the UK is pretty limited. For futures, I wonder if the LTA money might be better spent paying for a coach to help out any British players playing at one of the venues which hosts futures every week for a limited period.

More 25-100k tournaments in the UK would be very welcome, but I guess that is where the clubs come in.

the addict · Tennis legend

Well there are just three futures events scheduled in this country in the rest of the year (all in September), and four ITF's for the women (two 25k's in August and two 15k's in October). Plenty of free time there for more tournaments in August and September alone, but as others have said above ............

Anyway, pleased to see the 25k at Chiswick, I'm assuming that it is the same venue as the one in 2015 - which is a great venue.

Spectator · All-time great

Love your suggestions, BiS. And it would be really to name the famous players one could have seen at Futures past (if you'd attended almost any tournament in 2005, you would have seen Jamie Murray, for example) as a way of encouraging people to wonder which player they watch today might be famous tomorrow.

Jan · Hall of fame

Bob - are you looking for a job??

Thanks to Toby for the info about the question too.

steven · Tennis legend

Thanks Toby, cool to get the chance to ask questions like that. I wonder if another MP we know may have asked a similar question about women's ITFs (though as a newbie, he may still be finding his way around all the procedures involved, I guess)

Bob's ideas are spot on - other countries (even those spoilt with big tennis events like the UK) seem to do a much better job of making lower-level tournaments into a real event, the problem seems to be that the clubs seem to think it's the LTA's job to do all this (though it may be the LTA's own fault for being too controlling in the past, I don't know), whereas it is far better done by enthusiasts at local level with help (e.g. with helping and liaising with players to make sure some turn up early and help) and encouragement from the LTA, the way it seems to be done in France, Spain, North America, etc.

Oakland2002 · All-time great

I agree with all the statements so far, there are a lot of attitudes to change. Politically a focus on austerity, devolution in Scotland and Brexit has resulted in a pervading trend towards introspection.

The concepts of doing more for less and keeping people at work longer means there is less free time in which people can volunteer and we don't really have a culture of municipal sport as they do in France for example. Generally people involved in teaching tennis do it as a primary occupation, contrast that with football, admittedly professional coaching is becoming more common but the vast majority is delivered by amateurs who are increasingly well trained.

The membership within some of the older clubs that traditionally ran futures events is changing/aging, I really don't feel clubs like Frinton have the bodies on the ground to run futures tournaments in the way they used to. Perhaps a more pragmatic approach would be to either tennis approach centres that have cohorts of elite young players who would obviously benefit and definitely benefit from co-ordinating the event around schools in the way Bob suggests, or alternatively around Universities that have the infrastructure and access to volunteers as they do in the US. Tennis is a great game to play for busy people both socially and for exercise targeting the student population with some purpose has benefits all round.

-- Edited by Oakland2002 on Wednesday 28th of June 2017 04:44:55 AM

Topemp · Strong Club Player

Agree with many of BiS's points, about what more could be done to promote events, but its only half the story.

There has been a big cut in the Elite performance budget at the LTA in favour of a participation strategy. There have always been clubs who are unambitious but that hasn't changed that much. In 2013 there were 23 tournaments, last year there were 6, that's not mainly about clubs refusing to host them, that's a about a strategic decision at the LTA.

Anyway, we'll see what response we get, will be interesting to hear what govt have been told by LTA. Not sure who you are referring to Steven, but if you let me know, I'll make sure they know about the question, and have a chance to come in and ask a supplementary if they wish.